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jueves, 23 de julio de 2015

What is wrong in the American educational system?

Problems and Weaknesses in the American Educational System

Education in America is not as effective as it should be because of a number of problems
inherent within the system. Because of the way issues of political and
social differences have infiltrated educational policy and
decision-making, students are not being offered a sound way of dealing
with diversity or understanding how to manage differences. Furthermore,
in the midst of more large scale debates centering upon sociopolitical
questions, there are more concrete problems that are not being dealt
with such as the issue of cheating in schools and even the imbalance and
potential unfairness of the grading system.

In many cases, it seems that the problems in the schools are related to an inability to make important decisions about the future of education in
America. Instead of focusing on the areas of true and immediate
significant importance and value, time is being wasted by infighting and
indecision. Instead of wasting time of these debates, the larger issues
that have an effect on the system as a whole and outcome of educated
young people should be addressed and these other side arguments should
be saved until a time comes that education in America is improved.

One of the problems with the
American education system is that it has yet to form a consensus about
the role of religion in the classroom. While this is not a statement
meant to argue whether or not religion has a valid place in the public
schools, it is fair to state that this is certainly an area of
contention as opposing sides attempt to standardize how religion is
treated, particularly in textbooks. Because of a lack of agreement,
proponents on both sides use litigation and other actions to determine
religion’s status in schools and this has caused textbook publishers and
other educational entities to have to take a dramatic stance. For
instance, some argue that the efforts to stay away from this debate “has
pushed textbook publishers to excise religion altogether, even from
history class. It is not just the teaching of religion that has become
taboo…It is the teaching of religion” (Goodman 1). No matter where one
stands in the midst of this controversy, it is necessary to at least
admit that a large portion of Western history revolves around religious
ideas.

As a result of this fact, it
seems as though these textbook publishers who are afraid to include
anything of a religious nature are doing students a disservice since
they are denying the legitimate reasons for many historical and social
truths of history. In other words, political correctness and
oversensitivity about religious issues have clouded education and caused
students to have a rather skewed view of society since they are only
being offered a rather whitewashed version of it. When Goodman suggests
that American schoolchildren need to be taught the importance of
diversity by stating, “it is not that Americans deny their differences
or always resolve them, but that we have managed, until now, to live
with them” (1) she makes an important point about diverse thinking. As
her statement also makes clear, American education cannot gloss over
history and society without cheating students out of a deeper
understanding of differences in opinion. By offering young people only
one narrow way of thinking because of political reasons, it limits their
scope and ability to deal with such social difference later in life.

Education is not becoming
more ineffective simply because of political wrangling about the role of
religion in schools, but also because there is a lack of understanding
about moral issues, such as plagiarism.
While its another argument entirely about whether or not the two are
interdependent in some ways (religion and simple morals/ethics) it is
noteworthy that there is a lack of ethical stringency in schools. When
it has been suggested that out of the top American students many cheated
and had ambivalent views about it, it becomes clear that there is a
lapse in ethical lapse in the system itself. According to one of the
statistics in “Their Cheating Hearts” by William Raspberry, “80 percent
had engaged in academic cheating and thought cheating was commonplace.
Moreover, most saw cheating as a minor infraction” (Raspberry 1).

It is not just that so many
students are cheating but that so few think it is not a major issue.
Even still, as Raspberry notes, many of them contend that they would
wish to live in a community where people “adhered to the highest ethical
standards” (1). This disparity in what students believe about plagiarismand
what they practice highlights a significant shortcoming in the
education system since it seems it only teaches young people what is
wrong but does not perhaps address how they should apply this to their
lives. Again, one must wonder if the fear of controversy over moral
issues has extended so far that it is shortchanging students of valuable
information that will allow them to make informed, responsible, and
ethical decisions. Instead of getting caught up in debates of great
magnitude (the role of religion in schools, for instance) these
questions should still be posed but should also take into account that
children need to be taught important ethical lessons while the argument
rages on.

Another important issue that
must be addressed in order to help save the deteriorating state of the
American educational system is that of the grading system. Educational
researchers, students, and teachers at all levels have confronted the
issue of possible imbalance in the system even though, according to one
opinion, “No one has ever demonstrated that students today get A’s for
the same work they used to receive B’s or C’s” (Kohn 1). In other words,
even though there is an ages-old debate about the grading system it is
generally something that comes and goes yet is without a great deal of
merit. In many ways, it seems as though there is a great deal of time
being wasted within the educational system (on the part of educational
researchers, critics, students, and even teachers) about this supposed
problem. Instead of focusing on legitimate issues (such as cheating)
again it seems there are useless or debates that cannot be won that are
taking up precious time and resources. Furthermore, just as in the case
with the problems arising from religious debates in schools, the
question of political correctness is in the background as thinkers
wrestle with the possibility of grade inflation and what is defined by
“too much concern about the students’ self-esteem” (Kohn 1).

These more ethereal
questions are being posed when the real problem lies in the fact that
there is no consensus about this issue among others. This is another
clear case of the educational system failing because no one can agree
about important factors affecting education in America. Although it
would be impossible to claim that is one standard by which students
would be judged, wasting time on this debate detracts from more
important issues such as how to improve testing scores, how to make sure
students are maximizing their educational experience, and whether or
not the system is attempting to make better citizens out of young
people.

Even though all of the
problems that have been addressed thus far are important, it is
necessary for thinkers to look at and offer commentary on larger societal education issues.
In the case of academic dishonesty there is a move to look at how
students view the issue from a larger cultural/social perspective and
this should occur in other educational debates as well. While it would
be a massive undertaking to change the way high schools function at this
point when the system is already weak, Botstein observes how culture
and social changes are having an effect on even the most basic
assumptions we have about schools. For instance, “The primary cause for
the inadequacy of high school rests with irreversible changes in
adolescent development” (Botstein 1). While this is biological since
adolescents come to maturity more quickly than they did in the past, it
is also a matter of culture. Influences ranging from the home to the
media are making adolescents feel like actual adults and thus perhaps
high school is outdated since “High school was designed to deal with
large children. It is now faced with young adults whose adult behavior
has already begun” (Botstein 1). This kind of thinking moves the
questions about how to fix education forward since it accounts for new
developments with the focus of the schools—the young people themselves
as opposed to the theorists and proponents of morally or
politically-based arguments.

It is clear that there are
serious problems with the modern American educational system. As it
stands, the solutions to the problems inherent to the American system of
education are within reach if there could be common agreement about
what some of the basic needs of students are instead of the less
concrete concerns. Still, it is important to recognize that all the
theories that have been put forth about what is wrong with schools are
still important, but that they must not overshadow the commitment to
making education more effective in the here and now. If culture and the
rapidly changing state of society can be taken into account, new ideas
about education can be useful. If, however, debates rest on stagnant
arguments that cannot ever be won by either side without even slight
consensus, then education will continue to suffer.